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NSW Science & Research Breakfast Seminar Series

Events
The audience watching Professor Michelle Leishman presenting 'Towards Nature - Smart Liveable Cities for the Future', Strangers' Room, Parliament of NSW, Wednesday 7 December 2022.
Professor Michelle Leishman presenting her breakfast seminar 'Towards Nature - Smart Liveable Cities for the Future' - Strangers' Room, Parliament of NSW, Wednesday 7 December 2022.

The Science & Research Breakfast Seminar Series showcases excellence in research and development which is generating economic, environmental, social and technological benefits for New South Wales. The series will again feature some of the state’s best and brightest, and highlight its tremendous research strength across a diverse range of disciplines.

For more information, please call the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer on (02) 9228 3940.

2023 Science & Research Breakfast Seminar Series

2023 BREAKFAST SEMINAR SERIES CALENDAR

Wednesday 11 October 2023

Associate Professor Amy Cain

Associate Professor Amy Cain
Macquarie University

Mini-machines: How Microbial Genes Can Improve the World

GET YOUR TICKETS  HERE

Microbes are powerful mini-machines that thrive in the earth’s most extreme environments, ranging from volcanoes to ice-caves. Researchers are aware of their superpower capabilities but are only recently discovering how to harness and apply them. This includes potential benefits such as producing life-saving antibiotics, breaking down plastics and even reducing atmospheric CO2.

Amy argues the key to harnessing a microbe’s power is by understanding its genes. This is the focus of her research, which uses ‘functional genomics’ techniques to discover an individual gene’s role and then applying it to create ground-breaking biotechnologies. She says nature is smarter than we are and the challenge is to apply what has been happening in nature for billions of years to enhance everyday life.

In this seminar, Amy will discuss the broad uses of microbial genes, from breaking down shopping bags or old mattresses to understanding how microbes become resistant to antibiotics, helping in the fight against superbugs. She will also brief us on the Galleria Research Facility’s plastic-eating caterpillar program.

Join Associate Professor Amy Cain when she presents Mini-machines: how microbial genes can improve the world.

About the Speaker

Associate Professor Amy Cain, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University

Amy is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow, Director of the Galleria Research Facility and an affiliate of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology.

Her research is currently focused on building synthetic microbes that efficiently degrade various difficult-to-recycle plastics and developing new-to-nature antibiotics.

Amy established The Galleria Research Facility, an Australian-first   initiative that provides an efficient and ethical way to effectively test new biotechnologies and drugs and help make them market ready.

She has also worked in academic groups, hospital labs and in the pharmaceutical industry across Australia, the UK, Malawi and in the USA.

The author of and contributor to some 70 publications, she has attracted more than $15 million in grant funding over the last five years. She holds many honours and awards, including the NSW Tall Poppy and the Australian Society for Microbiology’s Frank Fenner Awards.


Wednesday 16 August 2023

Professor Richard McDermid
Macquarie University

Exploring Our Complex Cosmos with Next-Generation Telescopes in the Age of Data-Intensive Astronomy

THE VIDEO WILL BE AVAILABLE SHORTLY


Wednesday 14 June 2023

Ros Harvey
CEO, The Yield

Is Agriculture Ready for Artificial Intelligence?


Wednesday 10 May 2023

Professor Garry Myers
University of Technology Sydney

Synthetic RNAs for NSW and Australian Needs


Wednesday 1 March 2023

2022 NSW Scientist of the Year
Professor Glenda Halliday
The University of Sydney

Neurodegenerative Disease: Causes and Cures


2022 Science & Research Breakfast Seminar Series

Wednesday 7 December 2022

Distinguished Professor Michelle Leishman
Macquarie University

Towards Nature - Smart Liveable Cities for the Future


Wednesday 19 October 2022

Chris Beal
Chief Executive Officer, NextOre Pty Ltd

Australian Technology’s Role in Addressing the Environmental Impacts of Mining


Wednesday 17 August 2022

Dr Carl Seubert
Chief Research Officer, SmartSat CRC

Guiding the Trajectory of Australia's Space Technology


Wednesday 29 June 2022

Professor Judith Dawes
Macquarie University

Photonics: Making Light Work


Wednesday 11 May 2022

2021 NSW Scientist of the Year Professor Jim Patrick AO
Cochlear and Macquarie University

The Cochlear Implant as a Treatment of Severe to Profound Hearing Loss

* Due to technical difficulties with the Parliament of NSW AV system, this video does not contain footage of the speaker, but rather the presentation slides and Professor Patrick's accompanying narration. We apologise for any inconvenience.


Wednesday 30 March 2022

Professor Hala Zreiqat AM
The University of Sydney

The Challenges in Engineering Human Tissue


2021 Science & Research Breakfast Seminar Series

Wednesday 8 December 2021

Professor Ian Paulsen

Distinguished Professor Ian Paulsen
Macquarie University

Synthetic Biology: Inspired by Nature, Designed by Science

NOTE: there is an error in slide 32 of this presentation. The chromatogram shown in the bottom right of the slide is old data that has not been reproduced.

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 14 July 2021

Professor Francois Aguey-Zinsou

Professor Francois Aguey-Zinsou
UNSW Sydney

Hydrogen Science and the Future of Australia

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 19 May 2021

Distinguised Professor Belinda Medlyn

Distinguished Professor Belinda Medlyn
Western Sydney University

Climate Change and Australian Vegetation: Where Are We Headed?

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 31 March 2021

Professor Edward Holmes

2020 NSW Scientist of the Year
Professor Edward Holmes
The University of Sydney

The Discovery and Origins of SARS-CoV-2

WATCH THE SEMINAR


2020 Science & Research Breakfast Seminar Series

Wednesday 2 December 2020

Professor Antoine van Oijen delivering a lecture

Distinguished Professor Antoine van Oijen
University of Wollongong

Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance, from Molecule to Community

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 21 October 2020

Professor Dayong Jin

Distinguished Professor Dayong Jin
University of Technology Sydney

Harnessing Nanophotonics for the Early Detection of Coronavirus

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 19 August 2020

Professor Ross Bradstock

Senior Professor Ross Bradstock
University of Wollongong

The Science of Bushfire Risk

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 1 July 2020

Professor Liz Pellicano

Professor Liz Pellicano 
Macquarie University

Knowing Autism

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 20 May 2020

Professor Dietmar Muller

Professor Dietmar Müller 
The University of Sydney

The Future of Geoscience in Australia

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 26 February 2020

Scientia Professor Rose Amal, 2019 NSW Scientist of the Year

2019 NSW Scientist of the Year
Scientia Professor Rose Amal AC
UNSW Sydney

Harnessing Solar Energy To Power Our Planet

WATCH THE SEMINAR


2019

Tuesday 3 December 2019

Professor Geordie Williamson

Professor Geordie Williamson 
Director of the Mathematical Research Institute 
The University of Sydney

Light, Sound and the Magic of the Fourier Transform

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 16 October 2019

Liesl Yearsley

Liesl Yearsley
CEO and Co-Founder, a·kin

The Co-Evolution of AI and Humanity


Tuesday 13 August 2019

Dr Cathy Foley

Dr Cathy Foley
CSIRO Chief Scientist

Future Science 2040

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 19 June 2019

Professor Maria Kavallaris

Professor Maria Kavallaris  
Children's Cancer Institute and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, UNSW Sydney

How Nanomedicine is Changing Cancer Treatment

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Tuesday 30 April 2019

Professor Michael Biercuk

Professor Michael J. Biercuk  
The University of Sydney and Q-CTRL

Building the Quantum Economy

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 27 February 2019

Laureate Professor Nick Talley, 2018 NSW Scientist of the Year

2018 NSW Scientist of the Year 
Laureate Professor Nick Talley AC
The University of Newcastle

Uncovering the Secrets of Serious Gut Disorders

WATCH THE SEMINAR


2018

Wednesday 28 November 2018

Dr Pasi Sahlberg

Dr Pasi Sahlberg
Gonski Institute for Education, UNSW Sydney

Finnish Lessons: Increasing Equity and Opportunity in
Australia's Education System Through Research

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 10 October 2018

Associate Professor Muireann Irish

Associate Professor Muireann Irish
School of Psychology, the University of Sydney

Memory in Dementia - Past, Present and Future

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 15 August 2018

Professor David Currow

Professor David Currow
Chief Cancer Officer, NSW and Chief Executive Officer,
Cancer Institute NSW

How Cancer Outcomes Can Continue to Improve

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 6 June 2018

Professor Veena Sahajwallah

Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla
Director of UNSW Sydney's Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT)

Green Microfactories: Products from Waste

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 9 May 2018

Professor Justin Gooding

Professor Justin Gooding
Scientia Professor in the School of Chemistry at
UNSW Sydney and founding co-director of the
Australian Centre for NanoMedicine

How Sensors are Changing Our World

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 21 February 2018

Professor Gordon Wallace, 2017 NSW Scientist of the Year

2017 NSW Scientist of the Year
Professor Gordon Wallace AO
University of Wollongong

3D Printing, Bioprinters and Clinical Application

WATCH THE SEMINAR


2017

Wednesday 22 November 2017

Distinguished Professor Lesley Hughes

Distinguised Professor Lesley Hughes
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Integrity and Development) and Professor of Biology at Macquarie University

Climate Change Frustration:
What Role the Public Scientist?

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 8 November 2017

Dr Peter Svensson

Dr Peter Svensson
Vinnova - Sweden's Innovation Agency

Openness and Innovation:
Possibilities for New South Wales

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 18 October 2017

Professor Richard Roberts

Professor Richard Roberts
Director of the new ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage at the University of Wollongong

Our Story: The Epic Human and Environmental History of Australia

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 9 August 2017

Professor Louise Baur

Professor Louise Baur AM
The University of Sydney

Tackling Childhood Obesity:
From the Clinic to Global Policy

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 28 June 2017

Professor Rick Shine, 2016 NSW Scientist of the Year

2016 NSW Scientist of the Year
Rick Shine AM, Professor in Evolutionary Biology at
The University of Sydney
Winner of the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science

Conversation in Cold Blood:
Researching Reptiles

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 5 April 2017

Nick Kaye

Mr Nick Kaye
CEO, Sydney School of Entrepreneurship

An Ecosystem, Satellites and a Stage:
Setting up Sydney’s School of Entrepreneurship

WATCH THE SEMINAR


Wednesday 1 February 2017

Dr Simon Poole

Dr Simon Poole
Director, New Business Ventures at Finisar Australia

Ideas & Execution:
The Yin and Yang of Innovation

WATCH THE SEMINAR